Injuries have ruled out two players in the SA President’s XV shortly before their departure to Georgia for the IRB Tblisi Cup next month.

Backs Joe Seerane and Hoffman Maritz will both miss the tournament in Tbilisi because of knee injuries. They have been replaced by the Steval Pumas duo of Stefan Watermeyer and Coenie van Wyk.

Leopards lock Brendon Snyman, who led the team against Namibia last weekend, has been appointed as official captain for the tour. Carl Bezuidenhout of the Steval Pumas is the vice-captain.

Furthermore, two players will remain on stand-by in South Africa as they are only permitted to travel to Georgia with 26 players. The players who will not leave on Sunday are Inus Kritzinger (scrumhalf) and Vincent Gwavu (loose forward).

“It was a tough week as we lost two players because of injuries had to decide which players to put on the stand-by list,” said Jimmy Stonehouse, head coach of the SA President’s XV.

“But now that our departure time is getting closer, I can sense the guys getting more excited. We leave on Sunday and then we have four days to get used to the conditions before our opening match.”

The SA President’s XV will get their campaign underway on June 7 against Uruguay. Their second match, on June 11, is against Emerging Ireland before they finish on June 16 against the host nation, Georgia.